Spider-Man 2 Faces Mixed Steam Reviews Due to PC Performance Issues

Spider-Man 2 on PC, developed by Nixxes, was initially anticipated to be surprisingly performant based on its system requirements. However, the game has launched to a 'mixed' Steam user review rating, primarily due to a plethora of technical issues. Currently, only 55% of the reviews on Steam are positive, highlighting significant dissatisfaction among players.

One user with an RTX 4090 and the latest Nvidia drivers (5.66.36) said, "Despite having a high-end GPU and running the latest Nvidia drivers, the game frequently crashes." Another user read, "The game is completely unplayable on PC. The game crashes to desktop every five minutes. I have already requested a refund."

A reviewer emphasized the severity of the issues, stating, "Hold off on buying until they get a couple of stabilization patches out because holy hell. To say this is 'rough' is an understatement. Lighting doesn't load in some cutscenes, those same scenes run at seconds-per-frame, audio desync issues up the wazoo, freezing, stuttering, and just about every other performance issue I can think of. I'm gonna get a refund for now because frankly, there's other stuff I could use $70 for right now."

The primary issue appears to be frequent crashes of the game's graphics controller, affecting even users with high-end PCs. One error message reads: "A problem has occurred with your display driver. This can be caused by out of date drivers, using game settings higher than your GPU can handle, an overheating GPU, or an error with the game. Please try updating your graphics drivers, or lowering your in-game settings."

Other users have reported issues with features such as DLSS and ray tracing not functioning correctly, alongside long loading times, missing textures, and audio problems. Several players alleged that the game's performance can stutter after extended play sessions, eventually leading to a hard crash. Some speculate that a memory leak might be the culprit behind these issues.

In response, Nixxes has addressed the reported crashes on the Steam forums, stating to one user: "Sorry to hear you are experiencing issues. Please refer to the troubleshooting guides on the Nixxes Support website and contact us if the problem persists. Make sure to include your logs and crash dumps as outlined on the support website, so we can troubleshoot as quickly as possible."

Additionally, Nixxes has acknowledged other bugs, specifically those occurring during the photo-op missions in Spider-Man 2. They advised, "We are aware of a bug that can occur if your framerate is very low during this scene (below 20 FPS). As a workaround, try lowering your graphics settings and or resolution to pass this point."